Not quite three months after American Electric Power Service Corp. bought Columbus and Southern Ohio Electric Co. on May 9, 1980, the utility holding company announced plans on July 29 to build a 31-floor headquarters Downtown.

Not quite three months after American Electric Power Service Corp. bought Columbus and Southern Ohio Electric Co. on May 9, 1980, the utility holding company announced plans on July 29 to build a 31-floor headquarters Downtown.

The all-electric, 760,000-square-foot building was designed with energy conservation in mind. The building’s eight-sided design reduced exterior wall space, cutting heating and cooling losses.

A sculpture incorporating massive rotors from the Philo electricity plant was installed at the entrance. The sculpture, designated a Historic Mechanical Engineering Landmark by the American Society of Mechanical Engineers, commemorates a 1950s advance that dramatically improved efficiency and reduced the amount of coal needed to generate electricity.

Plans called for the building to rise on a 5.3-acre site at 1?Riverside Plaza, between Spring and Long streets on the west side of Marconi Boulevard. William G. Loftus, AEP senior vice president, said the site was big enough to accommodate a second building, if one were ever needed.

AEP, which had 1,500 employees in New York when it completed the merger with Columbus and Southern, planned to relocate at least 1,000 of them to Columbus. AEP rented space for them at 180 E. Broad St., in what was then known as the Borden Building, until the new building was completed in 1983.

In the end, only 515 AEP employees elected to leave Manhattan. They were promised a free move back within a year if they didn’t like Columbus. Only eight returned to New York. Those who stayed,The Dispatch reported a few years later, enjoyed lower taxes, more house for the money and a more-relaxed lifestyle.

Since 1980, the company has grown to nearly 18,000 employees. In addition to Ohio, it serves customers in Arkansas, Indiana, Kentucky, Louisiana, Michigan, Oklahoma, Tennessee, Texas, Virginia and West Virginia.

Suggestions for Mileposts that will run this bicentennial year can be sent to Gerald Tebben, Box 82125, Columbus, OH 43202, or email gtebben@columbus.rr.com.